Once celebrated, Now forgotten

4 JEWELERS' LEGACIES THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR APPROACH TO JEWELRY

Have you ever experienced going silent online for a long period to continue to work in the background? When I started this newsletter, the main idea was to stay connected with the jewelry community internationally (after living in the USA for 11 years and moving back to Spain). However, without a clear purpose to give value, I couldn’t commit to writing regularly over the long run. Life was busy too: I’ve since taken two digital courses, moved twice, renovated our apartment, raised a toddler who just turned 3 years old and started school, met weekly online with my mastermind group and organized my first digital course! Yep, so excited to finally share with you that I’m resuming both this monthly newsletter and my digital course offer with a double mission: to build a diverse legacy of jewelry internationally, and to help jewelers and professionals shape their trajectories for meaningful impact online.

After months reviewing the trajectory of my own research, writing and teaching, I realized that I had instinctively been focusing on a diversity of designers, which are now part of my first digital course. Indeed, this post is also an invitation to my free introductory class "Once celebrated, now forgotten" next Thursday November 16 at 1 pm est; 7 pm cest (class link provided upon registration here ). This class will give you an overview of my teaching style and upcoming course on 4 jewelers’ legacies worth rediscovering: Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo da Trezzo who served in the Spanish court of Philip II; French jeweler Marie-étienne Nitot, founder of Maison Chaumet and court jeweler to Napoleon I; German goldsmith Reinhold Vasters, who worked in the Renaissance revival style of the late 19th century; and American studio jeweler Mary Ann Scherr, who in the 1970s collaborated with engineers to produce unique "body monitors."

There is a reason I focus on 4 little known designers from different countries and time periods in history: we’ll more clearly see the challenges of piecing together lesser known jewelers’ histories, and the advantages of revisiting unexplored legacies worldwide. Jewels tell interesting and worldwide stories: however, the makers are not always at the center of those stories, and if they are, we hear about a few of the same well established jewelry brands and names. Yes, you probably heard of modern genius jewelers Lalique, Cartier, Belperron… (oh wait, did I just mention only French designers working in the 20th century?) By limiting ourselves to the same stories from the same country in the last century, we’re keeping the rich jewelry universe small.

If you like to learn starting from the jewels themselves, you’ll engage with my visual teaching style, which is the result of years teaching from museum collections at institutions like the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, Spain, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. When I completed my Masters in the history of decorative arts and design at the Bard Graduate Center in NYC, I could only follow one specific jewelry course within the two-year program (2014-16). It was hard work, but it didn’t stop me from building up my own curriculum and research in jewelry: it helped me to have previously traveled and taught at top museums in Spain, UK and the USA. Officially, I’ve taught jewelry to MA students at Sotheby's Institute of Art in NYC (Spring of 2018). And was adjunct faculty at Meredith College in person and online through the pandemic (2019-22), while I curated the American metalsmith Mary Ann Scherr’s retrospective at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in Raleigh, NC. Back in Spain, I’ve lectured for the Jewelry Appraisers Association (AETA) in Madrid.?

Both the introductory class and the course are not only based on research and knowledge in jewelry history, but also experience. I’ll share with you the jewels, makers, themes and institutions that have shaped and given meaning to my trajectory as a jewelry professional. More importantly, I’ll do so with the clear purpose of helping you look at your own trajectory, whether you’re a jewelry professional or designer looking forward to maximizing your impact online. You see, I didn’t create this course in a vacuum: for the past 5 years I’ve been asking myself different versions of the following questions: “how do we shape our professional jewelry trajectory for meaningful impact in today’s digital age? And how does the history of jewelry and past jewelers help jewelry designers and professionals today?”

This is not another digital course you won’t complete. As an international jewelry curator, teacher and historian turned digital creator, I’m particularly concerned about how you apply the jewelry knowledge to your own trajectory for long term impact. It is not a coincidence that many professionals come to jewelry through family and generation businesses, while others like me choose jewelry after other careers: it often takes a multidisciplinary background to address the multifaceted field of jewelry. During my live introductory class next Thursday November 16, I’ll share an insight that will change how you approach jewelry and your own trajectory, so make sure you register here . Follow me if you are curious about the history of jewelry, need fresh inspiration or aspire to maximize your impact in the jewelry industry online. And please share your comments/ questions below, I’m always open to a good jewelry conversation…